Does Iron Man 3 Crash & Burn? By @dreddeddeuce (*SPOILERS)

There are 2 ways I could review this movie. I could review it from the angle of the ‘purist’ who has to have the movie stay pure or as close to pure to comic canon as possible. In which case the movie would receive failing grades all around based on the fact that the Mandarin character was never fully realized. Once you see that he is being used to dupe the world into thinking that he is the mastermind of his bin Ladin like attacks you the audience member will feel like you were duped too as we were “promised” a worthy villain unlike any we have ever seen. One who would brutalize Tony Stark more than he was since the first movie. Also the ‘purists’ should be furious about the Extremis project and how it was changed for the movie in which it was never really mentioned at how fast Tony could process information but they retained…you know what screw it, purists would hate this movie.

The movie I saw was good for a Hollywood first out of the gate blockbuster movie. I liked the idea that Tony’s biggest issue this movie is getting over the PTSD that he is suffering after his battle in The Avengers and his near death experience. he is trying to get his life together when the Mandarin decides to go bin Ladin on the world. The idea of course it’s because Aldrich Killian was butt-hurt because he got turned down by Stark years ago which caused Killian to create AIM (purists should be spitting bullets as most know that AIM was created during WWII and an offshoot of HYDRA, but we are splitting hairs here right purists?) which became the modern day analog to al-Qaeda. Once Tony learns that Happy is personally injured by Mandarin he goes on the offensive.

The movie itself was a lot better paced than the second one without leaving a lot of us hanging but one of the biggest plot holes to me was if the mandarin was such a credible threat, why wasn’t SHIELD a bigger presence in this movie? Mandarin’s forces pretty much destroys Tony’s home and committed tons of terrorist acts and yo mean to tell me that SHIELD can stop space aliens but couldn’t stop Mandarin? Well, that may be the ‘purist’ in me but it was a plot hole that was kinda missed but on the other hand with the story the movie was trying to convey I look at it as, if you ever want to see what a person does when they stand up, knock them down first and take all of their toys from them and walk away from them as they are crying. Be the bully and that is what we got here. Plot holes aside, the story itself was watching Tony have everything taken from him but of course, like Batman, Tony has his Deus Machina around when he needs it and when it all goes down, you get a scene near that end that is somehow more satisfying than the last movie.

I am still however mixed on how the Mandarin was treated this movie. The idea that he is just a shadowy figure and a puppet that Killian pulled the strings on was a good twist that I think no one saw coming and even when Kingsley was explaining how he was just a two bit actor playing a face, I was still half expecting it to be a ruse and he would drop the hammer on Tony, but when the moment passed I was still pretty surprised that this was the move Marvel allowed to be made considering that in the comics the Mandarin makes for a great and ruthless rival of Stark (and even Victor von Doom) especially with his 10 rings and martial arts prowess.

Also your miles may vary on how Tony gets back into the fight because of an eight year old boy. Some of the scenes between RDJ and Ty Simpkins were good but there were some that could be borderline inappropriate and creepy which brings me to…DON CHEADLE. More than enough undue hype was brought along the fact that the Iron Patriot (purists are you mad that no nod was given to Norman Osborne for creating the armor? Well hey go make Sony pictures sell back the rights of Spider-man to Marvel Studios so we can get a proper Iron Patriot reboot movie!! HAHHAHAA) would be a chief armor in the movie and while we had a few more scenes with Cheadle donning the armor but One would have hoped that in the last fight scene we could have seen more action with Iron Patriot against the AIM enhanced soldiers. It’s pretty much Iron Patriot saves the president, drops him off and you don’t see him again and it was wasted. Granted that the last fight scene was better than part II even with showcasing the many armors but still wasted when it comes to Iron Patriot. By the way, did I forget Guy Pierce? He was ok but Sam Rockwell was better in Iron Man II.

All in all, when it’s said and done, you almost get the feel that this was done almost along the same lines of Batman: DKR but just not so heavy in tone. Iron Man 3 came along did what it needed to do and closed out the chapter, not with a huge bang but with an ok boom and actually more of a boom signalling ”our summer movie is first out the gates, we made our money, what about the rest of you?’ And now, we shall see what Man of Steel can do and if it will get DC Comics movies on track

Iron Man 3 just barely gets a 3 out of 5 stars

Not the home run we were looking for but it’s a hit to get the crowd talking.

Published by websterstyle

Elden is the founder of WebsterStyleMagazine.com, a digital magazine that caters to the new urban male by spotlighting the best attributes of the new urban male's interests and passions.
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